A passenger on a Virgin Australia flight that made an emergency landing after an engine fire has commended the pilots for their handling of the incident. The flight, VA 148 from Queenstown, New Zealand, to Melbourne, was diverted to Invercargill on Monday evening after an engine caught fire shortly after takeoff.
The airline attributed the fire to a likely bird strike. Passengers reported hearing loud bangs and seeing flashes from the engine almost immediately after departure. Witnesses on the ground captured video of flames erupting from the left engine as the plane flew over Queenstown.
Passenger Michael Hayward, seated near the wing, described the initial panic but noted that passengers calmed once the engine was shut down. He praised the pilots for their quick actions, saying they managed a safe landing with only one engine. No injuries were reported among the 67 passengers and six crew.
Virgin arranged overnight accommodation in Invercargill and bused passengers back to Queenstown on Tuesday morning for replacement flights. New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority reports bird strikes occur in about four of every 10,000 flights, with varying severity.
